Isle of Wight film studio plan revealed

The film studio will be constructed on the banks of the Medina River

A new film and television studio is to be built on the Isle of Wight.

Medina Studios Ltd will construct the complex on the banks of the Medina River in East Cowes, after it was recommended at an Isle of Wight cabinet meeting on Thursday.

It said the facility would have four sound stages totalling 70,000 sq ft (21,336 sq m) and be the island's "first screen-based media hub".

Business cabinet member Julie Jones-Evans called it a "game changer".

She said it would lead to "high-quality creative jobs at the leading edge of this evolving and fast-growing sector".

The site of the former Kingston Marine Park has been vacant for more than 10 years

Media Studios Ltd said it would benefit from "copious amounts of filming locations on its doorstep", as it was "nestled amongst woodland, clifftops, beaches, historic villages [and] period houses".

Duncan Heath, speaking on behalf of the company, said: "I've been in this business a long time and been lucky enough to be involved with some of the largest feature and television productions.

"But I have to say this is one of the most exciting projects I've ever been involved with".

David Godfrey, who helped design the studios, said they would "attract a variety of productions who wish to base themselves on the island".

According to the cabinet report the council purchased the site in 2018 in order to "secure a major employment development site for the benefit of the island".

It will be based at the former Kingston Marine Park, which has been vacant for more than 10 years.

The report said the "positive effects of the proposals" would "ripple across all areas of the island, offering wide-ranging island business opportunities, as well as direct employment on site and on location".

It also described it as a "one off" opportunity.

"It is considered unlikely that other better qualified people in the industry have been looking to travel to the island to build/develop a similar project speculatively," it said.